Sunday 8/02/09 Open discussion TeaDay

[Chip]

Good TeaDay one and all. Pease stop by and share what is in your cup this day.

Yesterday we discussed recent reads. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today, it is open discussion TeaDay. For the poll, what tea reigns supreme for you today? Share if you would like.

Enjoy your TeaDay.

[olivierco]

Ippodo shincha this morning, so I answered "green" to the poll.

[sriracha]

Black, as always.

A sample bag of 'Sikkim Temi special organic' for me this morning(2 mins til noon )
A few notes on this rather expensive tea...
Smell is like any first flush Darjeeling but not as strong. The leaves ,after straining, smell like cigarette ash. Then again I don't think tea leaves smell very nice, not often at any rate.
Taste...is like above, like 1st flush but sort of lacking in the top notes department and the tea is quite bitter.
Bitterness receded and turned into a tart berry sensation after a little while, but milk was definitely needed to make this palatable. Adding it turned it into a pleasant, enjoyable drink but perhaps a little thin...hm. My tongue feels a little sandy now.

Nice enough but maybe not worth the $12.50/oz.

[Drax]

I'm still in a TeaRut(R) with oolongs, though I suppose I may have been drinking more kombucha at this point. I've noticed my tea drinking has dropped off a lot in these hot summer months. . . hmmm.

O humid August,
your eyebrows dripping with sweat,
who wants some iced tea?

[Cinnamon Kitty]

Definitely green today. I have a new kyusu that is begging to be brewed in. As of now, I am waiting for my Zoji to heat up the water so I can start with some Yuuki-Yutaka and who knows where things will go from there.

As a fun side note, while my father was in Japan on his week long business trip, he mentioned that his hotel room came equipped with a Zoji and green tea bags instead of a coffee pot. His co-worker had no idea what the Zoji was, but my father knew its purpose and how to use it because of the one that I own.

[Victoria]

Starting the morning with Yunnan Gold. I doubt this will be the one that rocks my day, so I'll vote later.

Have a nice day everyone!

[Maitre_Tea]

This was a pretty difficult one, between choosing a new favorite (Japanese greens) or sticking with an old favorite (Oolong). I chose what got me back into serious tea-drinking this month, Japanese greens. I've been re-reading notes, and I'm looking forward to ordering some samples from Jing Tea Shop (one of the major vendors whose wuyi teas I've heard great things about, but have yet to try) so maybe this Japanese green tea thing is just a phase.

I hope not, since I love it so much right now

[Salsero]

Taiwan oolong is on the throne today.

[sriracha]

Sal, did you turn the little filter hook that way yourself or did the pot in your pic come like that?

I have a similar pot and the hook is against the 'bottom' of the spout hole...if it's not the pot dribbles a little. Yours perhaps works fine anyway? =)

[Chip]

Black, as always.

A sample bag of 'Sikkim Temi special organic' for me this morning(2 mins til noon )
A few notes on this rather expensive tea...
Smell is like any first flush Darjeeling but not as strong. The leaves ,after straining, smell like cigarette ash. Then again I don't think tea leaves smell very nice, not often at any rate.
Taste...is like above, like 1st flush but sort of lacking in the top notes department and the tea is quite bitter.
Bitterness receded and turned into a tart berry sensation after a little while, but milk was definitely needed to make this palatable. Adding it turned it into a pleasant, enjoyable drink but perhaps a little thin...hm. My tongue feels a little sandy now.
Nice enough but maybe not worth the $12.50/oz.

Interesting ... The Temis that I have had have all pretty good to approaching excellent, and not pricey at all. Very comparable to Darjeeling in just about every respect, except ironically cheaper. I have a few samples that I need to open ... I cannot imagine a Temi costing that much!

Tea of the day is Yutaka Midori from O-Cha with DW, always the gold standard that few others have equaled. Began the day with it.

Next up, 88 Nights from Sugimota. This is a shincha special edition and is very nice. I got this sample from Pentox ... where is that guy anyway?

[clareandromeda]

greens as always. Its been too darn hot for me to drink anything but iced sencha. Ive been debating ice brewing gyo but it would be too disapointing if it didnt work. Missing gyo and matcha but the humidity in NY is ridic. and I try to survive without air conditioning.

[Chester Copperpot]

Having myself a delicious cup of one of my Adagio blends: Rooibos vanilla chai, rooibos cinnamon apple, and wild strawberry. Divine! I try to stick with rooibos and herbals most often, with the occasional flavored green, oolong, or white blend in the morning.

For those of you who love the caffeinated teas, what do you drink in the evenings? Do you switch to decaf/herbals or does the amount of caffeine in the tea not keep you up (my husband is this way. Caffeine in tea and soda seems to have no effect on him, but if I drink caffeine past 5pm, I'm up all night)?

[Salsero]

Sal, did you turn the little filter hook that way yourself or did the pot in your pic come like that?

I have taken it out a couple times to clean it and don't remember how it was initially installed. I'll bet you are right about the dribbling. Thanks for the pointer!

[Chip]

For those of you who love the caffeinated teas, what do you drink in the evenings? Do you switch to decaf/herbals or does the amount of caffeine in the tea not keep you up (my husband is this way. Caffeine in tea and soda seems to have no effect on him, but if I drink caffeine past 5pm, I'm up all night)?

Some people are fortunate (?) and do not seem to be affected by caffeine very much. I stop drinking "new" tea around 6-7 in the evening, and will drink "SLT," soggy leaf tea, that has been pretty decaffed that day by steeping several times.

Continuing the TD with a tasting of Kunpu shincha from Den's, quite lovely asamushi.

[Chester Copperpot]

I stop drinking "new" tea around 6-7 in the evening, and will drink "SLT," soggy leaf tea, that has been pretty decaffed that day by steeping several times.

Genius! I never would've thought of this. And yes, sometimes I think it would be fortunate to not be affected by caffeine (especially when I'm in the mood for one of my white teas in the evening, but I've tried it before and regretted it later).